Reducing cholesterol naturally

How To Make Cholesterol-Friendly Roast Dinners

There’s no need to miss out on delicious comforting roast dinners when you’re managing your cholesterol, as long as you stick to these simple rules:-

1. Choose lean meats

By choosing lean meats for your roast dinner, you will be keeping the saturated fat content low, which is really important in cholesterol management. Chicken is a great choice, as it’s lean (especially the breast) and really easy to roast. Try to avoid ones basted in butter, as these will be higher in saturated fat.

Turkey is even leaner than chicken, so is another great choice for cholesterol-friendly roasts. I love turkey with cranberry sauce, especially at Christmas. Cranberries are rich in nutrients and antioxidants, and research has shown that they can help the reduce bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol. Shop-bought cranberry sauce tends to be quite high in sugar, so it’s best to make your own if you have time. Here’s a good recipe by ‘Cookie + Kate’.

Beef is fine too, as long as you choose cuts that are low in saturated fat, like a topside beef joint. Horseradish and mustard are great accompaniments as they’re both low in saturated fat and cholesterol-friendly.

2. Remove the meat skin & fat

By removing the skin from your chicken/turkey, and any visible fat from your beef, you’ll be making your roast dinner more cholesterol-friendly. I tend to keep the skin or fat on the meat while it’s cooking to keep the meat nice and juicy, then remove it just before serving.

3. Include lots of vegetables

Including lots of vegetables in your roast dinner that are rich in soluble fibre will help to lower your cholesterol. Some of the best sources of soluble fibre in vegetables include squash, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes, all of which work really well in a roast dinner.

4. Leave the skin on potatoes

Potato skins are rich in dietary fibre, which helps to lower cholesterol, so I never remove them. You can roast potatoes as normal with the skins on, but they’ll need to be cooked for a little longer. Select floury textured potatoes labelled ‘roasting’ or ‘baking’ for best results.

5. Make the roast potatoes big & chunky

By cutting the potatoes into big pieces, you’ll be reducing the surface area to soak up the oil. This lowers the fat content of your roast dinner, making it more cholesterol-friendly.

6. Use olive oil for roasting potatoes & vegetables

Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fat, which can help to lower cholesterol naturally. It’s still high in calories though, so don’t go overboard. I like drizzling garlic-infused olive oil on my roast vegetables to add more flavour.

7. Avoid sausage-meat stuffing

Most sausage-meat is high in fat and sodium, so it’s better to use low fat stuffing like sage and onion instead if you are managing your cholesterol.

8. Use low fat gravy

I tend to avoid using juices from the cooked meat for gravy, as it can be quite fatty. Saying that though, you can reduce the fat content by pouring it in a jug, leaving it to stand for a few minutes, then removing the fat that should have risen to the surface. I generally buy low fat ready-made gravy from supermarkets instead, or make my own (here’s a good recipe).

9. Don’t avoid Yorkshire Puddings!

Yorkshire puddings are fine for those with high cholesterol, as long as you make or buy ones with less than 1.5g saturated fat per 100g (which most shop-bought ones are). I buy ready-made frozen ones from Tesco, as they’re very low in saturated fat, and only take 6 minutes to cook.

For more cholesterol-friendly recipes and tips on how to reduce cholesterol naturally, click here.

About me

I'm Alice, a 34 year old from the UK. I love food and cooking, and have always been interested in nutrition. So when I found out I had high cholesterol in February 2016, I decided to figure out what changes I could make to my diet that would help to reduce it naturally, without medication. I started this blog so that I could share my experiences and tips, whilst keeping myself on track during the process.

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